Sudan Foreign Ministry: Deadly Gaza hospital blast ‘a crime against humanity’

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry has condemned the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians, including women children and women, on Tuesday evening in an explosion at Gaza’s Baptist Hospital as “a complete crime against humanity”. In a statement today, the Foreign Ministry condemned “the bombing of populated areas and the use of the weapon of siege, starvation, and deliberate obstruction of the delivery of humanitarian aid to force citizens to leave and evacuate from their homes”.

The ministry’s statement considers what happened “a complete crime against humanity, and it is the result of the silence and complicity of Western international parties in this all-out war waged by Israel on the Gaza Strip”.

The ministry called on Arab and Islamic countries and the international community “to take urgent international measures to protect the Palestinian people and stop the war of genocide against them”.

The devastating blast in the courtyard of the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza yesterday evening is reported to have killed hundreds of people, however exact numbers are unclear, as reports from the area fear that more casualties are expected to be found under the rubble. Palestinian Hamas authorities immediately attributed the explosion to an Israeli air strike, however Israel has denied responsibility, in turn blaming the destruction on “a failed rocket launch by Islamic Jihad”.

Reactions from the international community have universally condemned the tragedy. Representatives of the Arab and Islamic world have largely condemned Israel, while Western voices have been more hesitant, pending forensic analysis of available evidence.

US President Joe Biden, who arrived in Tel Aviv today, said he was “deeply saddened and outraged” by the explosion, however, he told Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu: “Based on what I’ve seen, it appears as though it was done by the other team, not you… but there’s a lot of people out there not sure so we have to overcome a lot of things.”

Biden told reporters that his conclusion that Israel is not responsible for the blast is based on “the data I was shown by my defence department”.

The Sudanese Communist Party also described the bombing of the hospital as “a crime of genocide and against humanity” and called for urgent action to stop the war in the Gaza Strip.

The party affirmed its support for the struggle of the Palestinian people to obtain their full national rights, and called on “all peace-loving forces and world public opinion to show solidarity with the people and condemn the ongoing aggression against the inhabitants of Gaza”.

The Communist Party statement condemned the position of the USA, calling on the United Nations “to assume its role and assume its responsibilities towards the people of Palestine and to condemn the brutal crimes committed daily in the West Bank”.

Sanctions

The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), today imposed new sanctions on what it terms “10 key Hamas terrorist group members, operatives, and financial facilitators” in Gaza and elsewhere including Sudan, Türkiye, Algeria, and Qatar.

OFAC said in a statement that “this action targets members managing assets in a secret Hamas investment portfolio…”.

One of those designated is Abdelbasit Hamza, who OFAC describes as “a Sudan-based Hamas financier”.